Comments

The building has changed but I spent many summer afternoons hanging out at the Dairy Bar, especially while my neighbor friend was behind the counter. :-)

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 2:00am

Rockwood Dairy Bar was the building on the right in the picture ?

Submitted by Andrew Edmonds on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 2:00am

The Herald-Sun published this in an article about a year and a half ago: It was the Q-Shack owners’ desire to overhaul the somewhat dilapidated sign that led to their asking the Durham Historic Preservation Commission to label the sign an historic landmark. The owners, Dan and Amanda Ferguson, think the sign was erected at the site where University Drive flows into Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard when the Long Meadow Dairy Bar was there. The ice cream shop operated from 1954 to 1976, and Amanda Ferguson thinks the sign’s rotating top may originally have been an ice cream cone. The Fergusons plan to replace the sign’s panels and lights, and the motor that turns the top. The dairy, of course, was right up James Street: http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2008/05/lakewood-dairy.html

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 2:00am

I remember that building as the Rockwood Dairy Bar.

Submitted by Danny on Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 2:00am

Any pictures of the Dairy Bar? I remember the cool glass block walls.

Submitted by jeremy on Monday, July 11, 2011 - 2:00am

James street, does anyone remember when/why it had official 27 MPH speed limit signs on it?

Submitted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - 2:00am

It was indeed an ice cream cone, with a red top. It never rotated in my memory. Perhaps the mechanism broke. My sisters and I would sometimes walk there for desert during the mid-70s.

Submitted by DFPope on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 - 2:00am

I use to ride my bike down to The Dairy Bar to get their ice cream. Only had a few flavors then. My favorite thing though was their grilled cheese sandwiches, w/chips and a pickle. I use to love to sit at the counter and watch them flatten the sandwiches with that huge hot grill. Funny how some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around food. I just commented on the HOJO page about their fried clam strips. Good times with the fam!!

Submitted by Jariel on Friday, May 24, 2013 - 12:46pm

No mention of the Rockwood Filling Station? It existed sometime between the late 1980's and the early 1990's. Run by a warm, friendly older couple.

Submitted by PR on Monday, November 3, 2014 - 5:09pm

I vaguely remember RFS. It may have opened around the time Nana's did. Impressed by how that little niche of commercial real estate has really become a destination food neighborhood. Even the Thai restaurant (which was an Enterprise Rent A Car in the 80s -- the only food sources in that immediate area were McDonalds, KFC and a Wilco gas station) and the wine shop across the road are excellent.

The Herald-Sun published this in an article about a year and a half ago: It was the Q-Shack owners’ desire to overhaul the somewhat dilapidated sign that led to their asking the Durham Historic Preservation Commission to label the sign an historic landmark. The owners, Dan and Amanda Ferguson, think the sign was erected at the site where University Drive flows into Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard when the Long Meadow Dairy Bar was there. The ice cream shop operated from 1954 to 1976, and Amanda Ferguson thinks the sign’s rotating top may originally have been an ice cream cone. The Fergusons plan to replace the sign’s panels and lights, and the motor that turns the top. The dairy, of course, was right up James Street: http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2008/05/lakewood-dairy.html

I use to ride my bike down to The Dairy Bar to get their ice cream. Only had a few flavors then. My favorite thing though was their grilled cheese sandwiches, w/chips and a pickle. I use to love to sit at the counter and watch them flatten the sandwiches with that huge hot grill. Funny how some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around food. I just commented on the HOJO page about their fried clam strips. Good times with the fam!!

I vaguely remember RFS. It may have opened around the time Nana's did. Impressed by how that little niche of commercial real estate has really become a destination food neighborhood. Even the Thai restaurant (which was an Enterprise Rent A Car in the 80s -- the only food sources in that immediate area were McDonalds, KFC and a Wilco gas station) and the wine shop across the road are excellent.